The senate yesterday chickened out of the threat to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021....CONTINUE READING
Recall that Buhari had declined assent to the bill saying the inclusion of the mandatory direct primaries in the bill might pose financial, legal and security challenges.
It was learnt that the lawmakers stayed action on the issue following intense lobbying by six state governors.
Consequently, the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, announced the deferment of the presidential veto till January 2022 when the lawmakers are billed to return from the Christmas break.
Sources said the lobbyists were led by the chairman of the caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and governor of Yobe State, Mr. Mai Mala Buni.
The others were the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum(NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); chairman, Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Mr. Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Mr. Yahaya Bello (Kogi); Mr. Gboyega Oyetola (Osun) and Mr. Hope Uzodinma (Imo).
However, announcing the senate’s decision after an executive session, the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan said the lawmakers had decided to take the president’s rejection of the bill to their constituencies during Christmas and New Year holidays before deciding on the next line of action.
“The Senate, in a closed session, deliberated on matters relevant to the workings of the Senate in particular and the National Assembly in general. The Senate, also in the closed session, discussed how to respond to the letter from Mr. President on the electoral bill amendment.
“The Senate consequently resolved to consult with the House of Representatives in January when both the Senate and House will be in session.
“Presently, the House of Reps has gone or recess and like we all know, the constitutional provision is for the Senate and House of Representatives to jointly take the appropriate action.
“The Senate also resolved to consult with our constituents during our recess in January. The Senate believes that our constituents have a role to play as the major stakeholders in the laws that we make in the national assembly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the house of representatives has vowed to mobilise for overriding the President on the bill.
The leader of the caucus, Mr. Kingsley Chinda, said in a statement yesterday that the president refused to sign the bill into law due to the provision for electronic transmission of election results and not restriction of political parties to direct primary as the President noted in his letter to the National Assembly.
In the statement entitled ‘Save Nigeria now from Buhari: PDP caucus lawmakers cry out…Say Nigeria seized by hostage takers, bandits, terrorists…As Mr. President shows utter disdain for constitution…calls on Buhari to resign’ the caucus said: “On the issue of the Electoral Act amendment bill, the caucus expressed concerns that in the past one month, Nigerians have waited on General Buhari to give assent to the electoral reform bill passed to him by the National Assembly.
“As was postulated in several quarters, he has declined assent to same, using the cost of direct primaries as a decoy. The untold reason of declining is to avoid the electronic transmission of results which will improve the credibility of the electoral system.”
Similarly, the PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, accused the All Progressives Congress of scuttling the signing of the bill because some key provisions in the bill would undermine the APC’s grand design to rig the 2023 general elections.
It claimed that claimed the APC had been in trepidation of the amendment to the Electoral Act, due mainly to the provision of electronic transmission of election results, which will completely eliminate the APC’s manipulations and alteration of results at elections. ”
Commenting on the matter, the former senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki, urged the national assembly lawmakers to act fast on the bill.
“Now that the President has conveyed his decision to decline assent to the Electoral Act [amendment] Bill, I am sure that I speak on behalf of millions of Nigerians in urging the National Assembly to act fast.
“This is because we cannot sit back and allow one contentious clause to throw away all the positives in the proposed Electoral Act [amendment] Bill. At this point, two options are open to the National Assembly. They either veto the president’s decline of assent or remove the contentious provision on direct primaries and send it back to the president for his assent,” he said in a statement.
Similarly, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) urged the national assembly to save the country’s democracy, urging the lawmakers not to allow a single provision to truncate the goodness in the proposed electoral bill.
In a statement yesterday, CDD director, Idayat Hassan, said Nigerians had expected that the president would write his name in gold as the president who bequeathed an improved electoral framework to the country.
Hassan, who observed that the 2023 general election is just 14 months away, asked the lawmakers to immediately attempt two options, “which is either veto the President and pass the bill into an act of the National Assembly or immediately remove the provisions on direct primary as raised by the President and immediately re-present the bill to the President for his assent.
“Nigeria is in dire need of a new and robust framework for the conduct of elections. The reform in the Electoral Bill 2021 will improve the quality of elections thereby imbuing citizens trust in our democracy.
Share and comment below..
